Friday, 31 July 2015

What I Learned from (almost) 31 Days of Photos

A Look Back...

On July 1st I began a personal experiment. One month, 31 days, countless photos, daily thoughts, all with the goal of getting a better look into how I spend my time, and how I could be a better steward of precious moments, hours, and days.

So, how did I spend my time?

What did I learn?

I spent hours and hours reading. My favorite reads included Texas by James Michener, Monday Mornings by Sanjay Gupta, Never Give Up by Joyce Meyer, Healing & Wellness by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and Science magazine. The last time I did this much reading was in high school, and my brain thanked me for it. The more I read the more I am overflowing with thankfulness for the ability to see, understand, and remember information. Knowledge is powerful, and time spent building it is an amazing investment. This was my first summer doing full summer classes and a lot of time was spent working through Calculus questions and studying Physics. July brought one Calculus midterm, 4 quizzes, 8 homework assignments, and 3 Physics tests. You could say I spent a lot of quality time with my notebook, calculator and trusty white board! What did I learn from this? Well, apart from copious amounts of math, I learned that education is so amazing. I never want to take the blessing to sit in a classroom and learn for granted.

In almost every photo collage there was a picture of some sort of hot (or iced!) beverage. Now, this is no surprise to me! I've always loved a good mug of soothing tea. What this has taught me is that tea actually helps me be more focused with my time. When I have a mug of tea beside me I can study for a few hours without stopping. Why? This may be because drinking tea has become ingrained as a part of my routine. Pathways in my brain have formed that say "oh! a mug of tea! okay guys, time for some serious focusing." My favorites are green tea, lemon ginger tea, and good old earl grey. The time I spent with friends and family uplifted and encouraged me. I was blessed with brunch out with a friend, birthday celebrations with both friends and family, genuine conversations, walks, laughter... People are blessings. And people take up time! But, what a wonderful way to spend our time. Investing time into others requires effort, sacrifice, generosity, and often, vulnerability. It comes with the risk of getting hurt, but it also comes with the potential of blossoming into a meaningful lifelong mutual blessing, which totally outweighs the risk.

Time spent being brave is time well spent. In this post I talk about how we constantly have the choice to choose faith or fear. I only want to spend time choosing faith. Fear has no place in my life, and I never want to give it a foothold. Social media can be a time sucking black hole. I would open up facebook and casually browse, and the next thing I knew 20 minutes had gone by. Similarly, I would open instagram and be lured by one photo after another, and another, and another... I am so aware that what we put on social media is simply a surface that we want others to see. We don't put up the tough, messy days or our mistakes and weaknesses. I'm still trying to find a balance with social media. As for now I want to focus on people over profiles. Call me old fashioned, but I'm not satisfied with sending texts, but face to face is where my heart is.

And finally, God is always good. I learned that in different ways each and every day. He is the one who helps me focus in my studies, work, volunteer and stay full of hope. Right now I am believing for complete post-surgery healing, and I have full confidence that soon I will be running that 10 k race.. :) There it is, friends. If you followed along this journey I hope that it left you encouraged and blessed in some way. I certainly learned a lot through each post and daily "analysis" of my time. Until next time, dear friend! Much love, Vivi

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